September 25th.
That is the day that Bungie says the fight will be finished. In other words, it is supposed to be the day that Halo 3 is to be launched to Xbox 360 owners everywhere.
But if the just released multiplayer beta is any indication of how the final product will be, I feel that many Halo gamers are going to be disappointed.
A lucky number are allowed to get to try out the Halo 3 Beta. There are those who are invited by way of the "Rule of Three" program, and others, like myself, who were invited into the Beta by having a copy of Crackdown, used as the key to unlock and download the Beta.
The Beta was meant to start on May 16th. By saying "meant to" I mean that while those in the Rule of Three program were able to get in, Crackdown owners like myself were out of luck. Every time I tried to download the Beta, the text "Download Halo 3 Beta" was greyed out. Needless to say, I joined a list of the angry masses who were going off on Bungie for fouling up a huge event like the Beta launch.
Eventually Microsoft was able to locate the problem, and at 10:30pm that Monday night, the Beta was finally available for Crackdown owners to download. So after yet another hour of waiting for the Beta to download, I was finally able to get in, but my troubles continued. Sure I was able to play one game of Rumble Pit/Slayer, but when I got an invite from a Live friend to join his game, it would not start. Instead, all I got was a message saying "Downloading content from Xbox Live." It stayed like that for about 15 minutes, until I gave up and tried to do another game.
Yes I know content will need to be downloaded from Live, but waiting 15 minutes for an update to finish is inexcusable.
The next day it got worse. When trying to even start the Beta's Matchmaking service, I got a Game Over message with the following text: "The Halo 3 Beta is currently unavailable or has expired. We look forward to bringing you the full version this fall. In the meantime if you want to shoot your friends, why don't you check out Shadowrun on Xbox 360 or PC?"
I DON'T WANT TO CHECK OUT SHADOWRUN! I'M HERE FOR THE HALO 3 BETA!
Eventually I was able to get back on the Halo 3 Beta after a day or two, but when I was finally able to get back up and playing, it was the same as when I played Halo 2, filled with cheap shot artists, campers, weapon and kill hogs, you name it. I couldn't even get a chance to try out the new weapons. Every time I tried to fire up the Spartan Laser, I was killed on sight, while anyone else who armed themselves with the weapon can fire it without question. I realized there that was why I don't like playing shooters online, and Halo 3 is no exception.
And is it me, or does Halo 3 look just like Halo 2 in high definition? Maybe I'm spoiled by the visuals of Gears of War but I was hoping for a more significant graphics face lift that what I've seen before.
Yes I know I'm being harsh, as this is purely a beta release, and I'm sure Bungie will come through come September 25th, but this is a huge title for Xbox 360 owners. With the Wii still selling out units and a possible second wave of PlayStation 3 software, Microsoft needs to fight back, and just like Gears of War the past year, Halo 3 will be the key 360 title this year. Bungie has a lot of work to do to impress many a 360 owner, and to finally show how this fight will come to an end!
Currently Playing: Warioware Smooth Moves (Wii), Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii)
Waiting For: Command and Conquer 3 (360), Space Giraffe (360), Forza Motorsport 2 (360)